Reissue of Tiger Trap Scenario GJ115

Just a quick blog post prior to starting tonight's game with Dan Best. Last night, Dan and I played an old Grumble Jones Scenario KSM003 Tiger Trap. This scenario was one of my earliest attempts at putting scenarios on the blog and it definitely shows a less than professional effort. I've come a long way in publishing my scenarios and in my grasp of the rules, etc. that need to be included. It's been a great journey of discovery for me and has deepened my appreciation for the game. 

The scenario was adapted from the 2006 Issue of Armchair General Magazine. It was a pretty decent magazine for its time and bridged the gap between history and wargame magazine better than most. 

Each issue would also have an interactive combat problem. This particular issue had Tiger Trap, which depicted the efforts of a single King Tiger to repulse an assault by 10 Russian T-34/85's in 1945 Hungary. 

The tactical problem always intrigued me and I was eager to put it to paper for ASL. ASL doesn't always allow for such heroics. Bad dice rolls, MALF's and a host of other unforeseen circumstances can render most historical heroics to the trash bin. In this scenario, do the Germans get luckly and knock out 10 T-34/85's or do they simply run right by it and exit on the map for the win?? And do either of those extreme results make for a fun game of ASL? Probably not...neither player is going to be happy to be on the losing side of blowout match. That said, Dan was game to give this old dog a playing. That AAR will be combined with tonight's game...so you'll have to wait until tomorrow evening for that to post. But, I will say that we played a full 3 turns of the 5-1/2 turn scenario, before it was clear the Russians were not going to win. I played the Russians and was purposely wreckless in just rushing straight ahead. Dan rolled like crap in Turn 1 and gave the Russians a real chance going into Turn 2...but by Turn 3...every T-34/85 was knocked out.  And again, I did not exercise any kind of tactical caution...so I feel good that the scenario can be challenging for both sides.

The old scenario card was based on ideas that I had been using since 1989 for my in-house scenarios. Back in the pre-MMP days, my group of guys in St. Louis would make up our scenarios. We had never heard of "balance" and were just interested in taking a situation we read about and putting into a playable scenario and see how it turned out. We were never disappointed in our efforts and had some truly epic games of the years. Those were good times before we entered into this new golden age of ASL...where you can scarely keep up with all the new content. It's really an amazing time for our game.

After playing the scenario, Dan and I made several changes to it, which should improve the scenario. The new scenario card will GJ115 and will be the "bonus" scenario for 2022. GJ112, the Halloween Scenario will post next week. GJ113 will post in November and GJ114 will post in December. Both of those scenarios are currently in development.

So here now is GJ115 Tiger Trap to replace the KSM003 version. I will upload this scenario onto the ASL Scenario Archive site when I can. So far today, it has not let me upload it.

As always, these monthly "Basement Quality" Scenarios are offered for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of this blog.

Remember to open pictures in a new window in order to maximize the size. 

All Grumble Jones scenarios are available from the ASL Archive website. 

(Just search on Grumble Jones)